Tag Archives: juan Williams

Fox News contributor Juan Williams took some ribbing from his colleagues Tuesday night after saying Ann Romney looked “like a corporate wife” who hasn’t struggled in her life.

“Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, on the other hand looked to me like a corporate wife,” Williams said, speaking on a panel after the Republican National Convention’s speeches wrapped for the night. “And you know the stories she told about struggle, eh, it’s hard for me to believe. She’s a very rich woman and I know that and America knows that.”

Juan Williams hit it off with the I-man on the July 11 broadcast of Imus in the Morning. Apparently, Williams, who was fired by NPR in 2010, is the “foil” for the conservative personalities on Fox News. When Imus asked if Fox News was “right wing,” Williams responded with “given what I’m up against, I think that’s the way it comes across. If you’re arguing politics with Krauthammer and Brit Hume or Eric Boiling or Dana Perino–everybody’s on the right so you say, hey, wait a minute there’s another way to think of this. But, in general, I don’t know I would define myself as a liberal. I know most of the audience wouldn’t –But obviously, that is my job to be a foil for strong right-wing views.”

However, while midway through the interview when Imus and Williams were talking about the real criticisms with Fox News, Mr. Williams reiterated that Fox News does disseminate serious content with journalistic integrity, especially in their six o’clock slot [Special Report], but then made a bizarre statement concerning how he was able to be on the network due to his conservativeleanings. This coming from a man who claims to be “foil” for “right wing views.”

DON IMUS: That’s my point. That is the point I was going to make, that you sort of clumsily made, the point is that if you look at Megyn Kelly, although she can freak out once in a while but not very often. But if you look at Megyn Kelly and you like at Shep smith –oh my god—I mean Shep smith can turn into a commie sometimes. If you look at those news programs — or Bret Baier — those are news programs. I mean—I would say what it is. But I mean when somebody derides and disparages fox news, they really mean Hannity or they mean some of these other nuts, you know.

JUAN WILLIAMS: Well Sure

IMUS: I can’t tell you how it irritates me. And I have no dog in this. I don’t care.

WILLIAMS: If you want to put it that way, we’re like brothers; yeah you’ve got a dog in it because I’m your dog on this one. I mean I’m there; I’m there every day. So I wouldn’t exist. Now Let’s just put the shoe on the other foot. Imagine — imagine for a second that my job was to come in and to be a personality on, let’s say, another major cable news network and they say oh you know what? He’s pretty conservative, because I’d be pretty conservative over there, i don’t think I’d get past the parking lot because they don’t want any personalities that aren’t –you know—with the program. But on Fox I exist. I’m one of the team.

On the one-hand, Williams insists he’s a liberal foil, but that he’s too conservative for CNN or MSNBC. That’s quite an indictment from a liberal about how far Fox’s competitors are.

Monday night in Myrtle Beach, SC marked the 139th GOP debate in this election cycle. Well, perhaps that number is a bit high, but its close! With the number of debates ticking up month by month, there is virtually nothing new for the candidates to reveal about their platforms or positions. South Carolina was not a debate to watch for new revelations. What makes the Myrtle Beach debate so interesting is the fact that now that the field is thinning out, the gloves are coming off.

Huntsman officially bowed out of the race earlier in the day, bringing the number of men on stage down to five. He wasn’t missed.

It was obvious from the start that Newt was fired up and ready to go after Romney. He has made it his mission since Iowa to tear down Romney every chance he gets. Newt is angry about Romney’s Super PAC and he made sure everybody knew it Monday night. As a matter of fact, it seemed every candidate had finally decided to attack Mitt’s record on stage. It may be too little too late, but it was almost refreshing to see Mitt being forced to defend himself with nearly every question/comment. The only way any one else will become the nominee is to attack the front-runner directly. If Mitt does win, he’ll be attacked like that every day in the generals. Either way, it’s a win for Republicans to have the former Massachusetts governor challenged relentlessly. Mitt seemed thrown off his game a bit by all the attention. He stuttered and dodged more than he previously has in any debate. This was clearly Romney’s worst debate performance to date. That being said, it was still a performance worthy of at least a satisfactory rating from Romney fans. Not-Romney candidates take note: Mitt is not accustomed to attacks.

I really hate to draw the ire of Paulistinians (as Levin calls them), but he really did seem kookier than normal in South Carolina. Oh sure, the typical Paul crowd was in attendance, whooping and hollering with every Ron Paul-ism Ron Paul uttered. But Ron Paul’s Ron Paul act is getting tired, and weird. He made some vague distinctions between military spending and defense spending, complained at length (again) about useless wars and battle-happy Americans who “can’t wait” to start more wars; then he told the audience that he has more military support than any other candidate on stage. The Ronulans were clearly and typically impressed, but I suspect Paul did nothing to sway anyone else.

And what was up with Juan Williams? Did he just use the list of questions Stephanopolous rejected from the last debate? Williams spent a good amount of his moderating time race-baiting and giving typical left-wing talking points in the form of questions. Diane Sawyer was proud, I’m sure. We may hear a bit about Santorum regarding this tomorrow. He did step in it a bit when talking about the issues of letting felons vote and how it affects African-Americans. His point was salient, but no doubt Media Matters and Rachael Maddow will have lots of fun with the old “conservatives are racist bastards” meme for the rest of the week.

Perry continues to turn in strong debate performances. He’s sunk a lot of capital into South Carolina and this could be his last stand. If Perry doesn’t poll well here, its questionable as to whether or not he stays in the race after this. Perry was up to the task and took every chance to paint himself as the last “outsider” candidate – pro military, pro capitalism, pro small government, anti-Obama. I’ve noticed the quality of Perry’s debate performances has increased as the height of his shirt collar has decreased. Coincidence?

Santorum looked very confident and perhaps tied Newt as the winner of this debate. He stumbled a bit, but only a bit and he received big applause for direct and strong attacks on Mitt Romney. It is obvious Santorum is ramping up and with the news that he may have won Iowa after all, it is no wonder. It was a good night for Santorum supporters, but the question remains: did he convince any new voters to lend him their support?

The primary train rolls on, considerably lighter but also much faster. Tuesday’s primary vote in South Carolina will only bring the race into sharper focus. The process is tiring, but we are getting closer to the endgame. I’ll be honest, though – the first man who promises to rid America of Flo from those damn insurance commercials gets my vote.